December 12, 2013 On the Shelf Playing DFW, and Other News By Sadie Stein Jason Segel will play David Foster Wallace in The End of the Tour. Jesse Eisenberg plays reporter David Lipsky. Speaking of LA, a Charles Bukowski-themed bar is opening in Santa Monica. It is called Barkowski. (It should be noted that Brooklyn’s Post Office takes its name from a Bukowski novel, and is a good bar, so.) The National Library of Norway plans to digitize every book in the Norwegian language. If in New York, join Jonathan Ames, Sheila Heti, and Lawrence Weschler at the 92nd Street Y to discuss and celebrate The Best of McSweeney’s.
December 11, 2013 On the Shelf Jane Austen Sells, and Other News By Sadie Stein A portrait of Jane Austen—you know, the portrait, based on her sister’s sketch—has sold at auction for £135,000, which is actually somewhat below the estimate. “I started to write books in 1982 because I thought I was everywoman,” (all evidence to the contrary) Martha Stewart says at Art Basel. “Colin Wilson, the writer, who has died at eighty-two, suspected he was a genius; and there were some who agreed with him when in 1956, aged twenty-four, he published The Outsider, a somewhat portentous overview of existentialism and alienation.” Because no one does an obit like the Brits. John Waters on Christmas shopping: “I always give books. And I always ask for books. I think you should reward people sexually for getting you books. Don’t send a thank-you note, repay them with sexual activity. If the book is rare or by your favorite author or one you didn’t know about, reward them with the most perverted sex act you can think of. Otherwise, you can just make out.”
December 10, 2013 On the Shelf Stephen King Freaks Out Twitter, and Other News By Sadie Stein Tattered Covers Books is opening an additional three outlets in Denver. The Pitchfork Review, the new print branch of the venerable music review site, drops (as they might say) this weekend. Stephen King joins Twitter; doesn’t say much; people freak out. Titles popular with Scottish inmates include those by Lee Child, James Patterson, and George R. R Martin, and, uh, Hitler. “I have no idea who else is reading me. The New Yorker certainly isn’t. I’ve sent to them for fifty years. I’ve been sending since 1963. That’s fifty years of rejections.” The Rumpus sits down with Stephen Dixon.
December 9, 2013 On the Shelf Coziness Porn, and Other News By Sadie Stein Since Alice Munro skipped the trip to Stockholm, there is instead a Nobel video, and we can all watch it! David Ulin on Nelson Mandela, the writer. Here is some unabashed coziness porn: a slideshow of reading nooks. HuffPo ran it on #SanctuarySunday (which exists, it would seem) but on a Monday morning fraught with wintry mix, I daresay we need it even more. And apparently on the same page, the Guardian brings us a list of comfort reads.
December 6, 2013 On the Shelf Remembering Mandela, and Other News By Sadie Stein “To have lived one’s life at the same time, and in the same natal country, as Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a guidance and a privilege we South Africans shared.” Nadine Gordimer pays tribute. In depressing news: the thirty-five-year-old National Poetry Series is in danger of closing, due to monetary issues. Word is details of Morrissey’s relationship with Jake Owen Walters have been bowdlerized from the U.S. edition of his autobiography. Pixies frontman Black Francis is writing a graphic novel. (Cue failure to come up with non-lame pun relating to any Pixies lyric.)
December 5, 2013 On the Shelf Underthings, and Other News By Sadie Stein Busboys & Poets, the amazingly-named D.C. bookstore/cafe/performance space, is opening a sixth location! The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America has named Samuel R. Delany the 2013 science fiction and fantasy Grand Master. (Which is a great honor.) “There’s never much mention of male underwear.” An ode to the great unmentionables of lit. Remember! The St. Mark’s Bookshop auction is happening now! Visit the site (or the store) to help them relocate!